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Learn to play light.
The Resolume Arena Masterclass is the complete path from your first clip to a festival-ready show. 28 illustrated modules, hands-on labs and look recipes you keep, taught the way you'd learn an instrument.
$19 a month. Cancel anytime from your account.
Composition
126BPM
Click a clip to mix it into the output, drag a layer fader, or tap along to set the tempo.
28 modules and 168 lessons, 28 labs, 28 look recipes, 140 quiz questions and a 170-page illustrated book, in one membership.
Tutorials teach buttons. A show needs judgment.
Most VJs learn Resolume from scattered videos. You find the effects, but not when to use them, how to stay locked to the music, or what to do when the screen goes black ten minutes before doors. This course teaches the whole craft, in the order you'll need it.
Stay in time with the music
BPM sync, beat snap and audio analysis that drives the right layers, so your changes land on the drop instead of near it.
Perform with your hands, not a mouse
Map a MIDI controller or an APC40 and play a whole set with your eyes on the screen.
Deliver on any stage
Projection mapping, LED walls, edge blending, timecode, DMX and OSC, plus the checklists that keep a show running when something fails.
Every module works the same way
Six short lessons, then you build, prove and check. You always know what to practise next.
28 modules, in the order you'll need them
Ten phases take you from the interface to the main stage. Open any module to see what you'll be able to do by the end of it.
01
Foundations
What Resolume is, the computer you need, and a clean setup.
Introduction to Resolume ArenaModule 013–5 hours
By the end you can
- Explain what makes real-time visual mixing different from video editing
- Choose correctly between Avenue and Arena for a given job
- Describe the VJ's role alongside audio, lighting and video crew
- Name the five building blocks: clip, layer, column, deck, composition
- Trace a pixel from media file to physical display
- Plan visuals that follow musical structure
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Computer Hardware and Performance RequirementsModule 022–4 hours
By the end you can
- Explain the roles of CPU, GPU, VRAM, RAM and storage in live playback
- Estimate whether a machine can handle a given resolution and layer count
- Handle displays, adapters and EDID with confidence
- Choose audio interfaces and controllers that won't let you down
- Specify beginner, working and touring rigs
- Run and document a hardware acceptance test
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Installing and Configuring ArenaModule 032–3 hours
By the end you can
- Install Arena and confirm the exact version and licence
- Set preferences for video, audio, MIDI and file locations
- Create a composition with deliberate resolution and settings
- Route audio input and confirm display detection
- Use a saving and versioning system that survives any crash
- Run a five-point first-launch verification
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
02
Interface & Visual Craft
The interface, clips, layers, blend modes and effects.
Navigating the InterfaceModule 043–5 hours
By the end you can
- Read the clip grid and trigger clips, columns and decks
- Tell the Preview monitor from the Composition output
- Find any parameter in the Clip, Layer, Group or Composition panels
- Use sliders, cogwheels and right-click menus fluently
- Set up the Dashboard and learn essential shortcuts
- Pass three timed workspace drills
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Clips, Layers and CompositionsModule 054–6 hours
By the end you can
- Import media and choose the right trigger style for each clip
- Build a layer stack with a clear job for each layer
- Design columns as complete, fireable scenes
- Choose blend modes and transitions with intent
- Control loop, direction and beat-snapped playback
- Organise decks for a whole set
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Effects and Visual ManipulationModule 064–6 hours
By the end you can
- Position, scale and rotate content with Transform
- Grade colour and contrast for mood and legibility
- Use blur, distortion and feedback-style effects tastefully
- Predict how effect order changes the result
- Animate effect parameters with BPM and audio
- Build low-load versions of heavy chains
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
03
Audio & Rhythm
Visuals that listen to the music and stay on the beat.
Audio Reactivity FundamentalsModule 073–5 hours
By the end you can
- Route a clean audio feed into Arena
- Explain what FFT analysis measures, and what it doesn't
- Assign low, mid and high bands to the right visual jobs
- Map audio to any parameter with the cogwheel
- Tune Gain and Fall for a stable response
- Build a reactive composition that works on quiet and loud tracks
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Advanced Audio-Reactive ProgrammingModule 084–6 hours
By the end you can
- Build looks that switch character with the bass
- Design snappy transient responses without jitter
- Split a composition into independent multi-band behaviours
- Drive colour and scale reactively within safe ranges
- Keep manual override for every reactive system
- Validate reactive patches with a reference-track library
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
BPM and Musical SynchronizationModule 093–5 hours
By the end you can
- Count beats, bars and phrases in dance music
- Set and correct tempo with Tap, Resync and Nudge
- Choose between Timeline and BPM-synced playback per clip
- Build beat-synced effects and transitions
- Plan and land changes on drops and breakdowns
- Use Ableton Link, MIDI clock and DJ-player sync appropriately
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
04
Control & Live Performance
MIDI and APC40 mapping, and how to perform a full set.
MIDI Controller FundamentalsModule 103–5 hours
By the end you can
- Read MIDI Notes and CCs and confirm them in the MIDI monitor
- Enable and identify controllers in Preferences
- Map buttons and faders with the right mode (Toggle, Piano, Value, Range)
- Choose Absolute, Relative or Fake Relative for knobs
- Configure LED feedback so pads show clip state
- Save, share and reload shortcut presets
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Akai APC40 Performance MappingModule 114–6 hours
By the end you can
- Identify your exact APC40 model and its behaviour
- Map the clip grid with meaningful LED feedback
- Assign channel faders and the master to layers and composition
- Use track and device knobs for effects and Dashboards
- Navigate banks and pages without losing your place
- Rehearse and troubleshoot the mapping under show conditions
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Advanced Live VJ PerformanceModule 125–8 hours plus rehearsal
By the end you can
- Prepare a set library by energy and colour
- Mix layer-by-layer instead of only firing scenes
- Shape an energy arc across a full set
- Use restraint and negative space deliberately
- Improvise inside a structure, and recover from mistakes
- Structure and perform a 60-minute set
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
05
Content Creation
Show-ready media, generative visuals and genre styles.
Preparing VJ ContentModule 134–6 hours
By the end you can
- Choose resolution and frame rate from the output
- Encode to DXV with Alley or an encoder plugin
- Produce and test alpha-channel overlays
- Make loops with invisible seams
- Name and organise files for speed under pressure
- Track licences for every third-party asset
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Generative Visuals and SourcesModule 144–6 hours
By the end you can
- Use Arena's built-in sources as raw material
- Build patterns from simple shapes and lines
- Create organic textures with noise- and feedback-style effects
- Combine effects into new visual languages
- Make generative patches respond to audio and BPM
- Build and name a reusable preset library
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Genre-Specific Visual DesignModule 153–5 hours
By the end you can
- Design techno visuals with restraint and rhythm
- Capture house music's warmth and groove
- Build psytrance geometry and colour
- Hit dubstep's impacts and drops
- Keep up with drum and bass pacing
- Hold attention with ambient minimalism
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
06
Output, Mapping & LED
Advanced Output, projection mapping and LED walls.
Advanced Output FundamentalsModule 164–6 hours
By the end you can
- Explain screens, slices, Input Selection and Output Transformation
- Route one composition to multiple outputs
- Transform, flip, mask and colour-correct slices
- Save, load and share output presets
- Describe the edge-blending workflow (Arena)
- Validate any output with test patterns before showing content
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Projection MappingModule 175–8 hours
By the end you can
- Understand throw, brightness and projector placement
- Measure and model a surface before mapping it
- Use slices and masks to fit content to objects
- Perspective-, linear- and bezier-warp slices (Arena)
- Map multi-faced and irregular objects
- Verify an installation from the audience's viewpoint
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
LED Walls and Multi-Screen SystemsModule 184–6 hours
By the end you can
- Calculate pixel canvases from cabinet size and pitch
- Read a processor map and match your output to it
- Design for tall, wide and irregular LED shapes
- Drive several walls and outputs from one composition
- Avoid scaling and minimise latency
- Hand over cleanly to LED technicians
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
07
Integration & Show Control
OSC, DMX and Art-Net, and SMPTE timecode.
OSC and Network ControlModule 193–5 hours
By the end you can
- Read and write Resolume OSC addresses
- Design a simple, isolated show network
- Configure IPs and ports with confidence
- Build a tablet or button-box remote
- Protect show control from accidents and outsiders
- Diagnose network control problems quickly
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
DMX, Art-Net and LightingModule 204–6 hours
By the end you can
- Explain DMX channels, universes and addresses
- Explain how Art-Net carries DMX over a network
- Let a lighting console control Arena (Arena)
- Drive LED fixtures and strips from Arena's pixels (Arena)
- Plan pixel-mapping capacity
- Coordinate safely with the lighting department
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Timecode and Show ControlModule 213–5 hours
By the end you can
- Read timecode and choose it over BPM when it fits
- Lock clips to SMPTE timecode (Arena)
- Write a usable cue sheet
- Integrate with external show-control systems
- Plan fallbacks for lost timecode
- Rehearse a timecoded show properly
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
08
Production & Reliability
Designing a show, festival workflows and fixing faults fast.
Designing a Complete VJ ShowModule 226–10 hours
By the end you can
- Turn an artist conversation into a one-page visual brief
- Build moodboards that guide every content decision
- Structure the show's arc from opening to encore
- Build a scene library with energy variants
- Run rehearsals and capture useful notes
- Package professional show deliverables
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Festival and Stage WorkflowsModule 234–6 hours
By the end you can
- Request and read advance documents
- Draw and verify signal diagrams
- Work within festival crew roles and etiquette
- Run efficient soundchecks and line checks
- Execute fast, clean changeovers
- Design redundancy that actually saves shows
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Performance Optimization and TroubleshootingModule 244–6 hours
By the end you can
- Find and fix the causes of dropped frames
- Resolve codec and storage bottlenecks
- Diagnose black output methodically
- Recover from audio and MIDI failures mid-show
- Troubleshoot network control faults
- Write and use recovery checklists
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
09
Career & Practical Projects
Your visual identity, the business side and six guided projects.
Developing Your VJ IdentityModule 253–5 hours plus ongoing
By the end you can
- Define a recognisable visual signature
- Build a simple, consistent brand
- Curate a portfolio around real work
- Cut a demo reel that gets opened and finished
- Run a website and social presence that books gigs
- Collaborate and credit others properly
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Business of Professional VJingModule 263–5 hours
By the end you can
- Find gigs through networks, venues and agencies
- Quote from scope, not guesswork
- Write a technical rider that matches your real kit
- Understand the basics of contracts and content licensing
- Plan travel and logistics for gigs
- Build long-term client relationships
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Guided Practical ProjectsModule 2710–20 hours
By the end you can
- Mix ten clips musically for five minutes
- Design a three-layer signature look
- Build a fully audio-reactive visualiser
- Map a controller for a complete performance
- Map a small stage set with projection
- Perform a 30-minute show end to end
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
10
Capstone
Plan, build and perform your own 15 to 30 minute show.
Final Capstone and AssessmentModule 286 weeks
By the end you can
- Write a creative brief and moodboard for an original show
- Build a licensed, documented media library
- Construct a performance-ready composition
- Deliver a complete control mapping
- Validate outputs to professional standard
- Perform, record and critically review a 15–30 minute set
Six illustrated lessons, a look recipe, a creative challenge, a hands-on lab, a troubleshooting guide and a quiz.
Finish with a show you can book.
The capstone brings everything together. You walk away with work you can show a promoter, not a certificate.
- A recorded 15 to 30 minute setPerformed live, mapped to a controller, with a fault you recover from on camera.
- A library of signature looks28 named recipes, rebuilt in your own palette and style.
- A controller map you can play blindClips, faders, effects, tempo and a blackout button where your hands expect them.
- A show folder that travelsMedia, presets and documentation that open on any machine.
- A technical riderSignal diagram, outputs and exactly what you need from a venue.
- A demo reel and portfolioCut to music, with your visual identity defined.
Learn on the web, or from the book
The 170-page illustrated book
Download the whole masterclass as a designed PDF, with printable show templates, a master quick reference and the answer key.
Built for three kinds of people
You're new to VJing
You've never opened Resolume, or you've only played with it. Phases 1 to 4 take you from zero to a confident live mix.
Start at Module 1
You're a DJ adding visuals
You already feel phrasing and drops. Learn to make the screen follow the music and run it from a controller.
Focus on Phases 3 and 4
You already work in AV
You run shows and want the deeper toolset: mapping, LED processors, timecode, DMX and festival workflows.
Jump to Phase 6
One membership. Everything included.
Every module, lab, recipe, quiz, template and the book, for as long as you're a member.
$19per month
$149per year
Billed monthly. Cancel anytime from your account.
Billed once a year. Cancel anytime from your account.
Get full accessSecure checkout by Stripe. Access starts immediately.
What's included
- All 28 modules and 168 illustrated lessons
- 28 look recipes and creative challenges
- 28 hands-on labs with saving checklists
- 140 self-check quiz questions
- The 170-page illustrated book (PDF)
- Show templates, quick reference and glossary
- Progress synced across your devices
- Every future update and new video lessons
Teaching a class or training a crew? Email support@yoursite.com about group pricing.
Questions before you start
Anything else? Email support@yoursite.com.
When do I get access?
Immediately. As soon as checkout finishes you land in the course, with every module, the toolkit and the book unlocked.
Do I need to own Resolume Arena?
You need a computer that can run Arena. Resolume's free trial watermarks the output but includes every feature, which is enough to work through the course. You'll want a licence before you play paid shows.
I already know the basics. Is it worth it?
Yes, if you want the deeper toolset. Phases 5 to 10 cover content creation, projection mapping, LED walls, OSC, DMX, timecode, festival workflows and the business side. Use the curriculum above to jump straight to what you need.
How does billing work?
You subscribe through Stripe's secure checkout and your membership renews automatically. Update your card, download invoices or cancel anytime from your account. You keep access until the end of the period you've paid for.
What happens to my progress if I cancel?
It's kept. Re-subscribe whenever you like and pick up exactly where you left off.
Does it work on my phone or tablet?
Yes. The course works in any modern browser, and your progress, checklists and notes sync between devices.
Is this an official Resolume course?
No. It's independent educational material, not affiliated with or endorsed by Resolume. It was written for Arena 7 and checked against the official manual.
Can I share my login?
Memberships are for one person. For a class, a venue crew or a team, email us about group pricing.
Your first set starts tonight.
Join now and you'll be mixing two layers in time with music within ten minutes.
$19 a month. Cancel anytime.